Jan 24, 2009

Fun Times

When we first got back to Jena, I was convinced that somebody shrunk our apartment. There is just no way that it was THIS small when we left, I thought. I was not amused. Then there's the lovely German winter weather. If you had asked me in the summer about living in Jena, I would probably have told you that we could live here forever if only our family were closer. Ask me in December sometime and see what the answer is! January tends to be better--i.e, the sun makes the occasional appearance--but our first week back was not an example of this January improvement.

All that to say, I was pretty grumpy for a while there. Fortunately, the sun was out for much of today, and I'm starting to remember why I love Jena. After a productive and nice day, Michael and I went out for one of our date nights (which, of course, include David.) We headed to our favorite traditional German restaurant where we split two meals: schnitzel (a thin breaded pork chop) in a mushroom sauce served with croquettes--which are kind of like fancy tater tots, and a wildpfanne, which is a skillet of potatoes, mushroom, and a variety of meats. I don't know how or when it happened, but I really have come to love German food, and this restaurant in particular is just so good. David was quite happy for a while in his little umbrella stroller, and when he got bored with that Michael held him and we gave him a little bit of lemon to munch on. The kid can't get enough of lemon, it's kind of odd :)

After dinner, we moseyed on over to the Italian ice-cream shop and shared a bowl of ice cream, half vanilla and half lemon, with hot blueberry sauce. That's when I REALLY started to remember why I like Jena so much. I'm not sure what I'll do without my little Italian ice cream shops when we're back in the States. (And David really liked the lemon ice cream as well, which I suppose shouldn't have surprised us but did.)

So that was our lovely Saturday. It's nice to have a baby that is so joyful, so friendly, and so easy-going that you can just bring him along to restaurants, or wherever you might want to go.

And now for some pictures!

First, one more thing: I tried to do a post on our travels, because we have so many wonderful pictures from home, but it turns out we have entirely too many. I'm going to have to start a Flicker account, or something like it, so that I can post albums from our visits. Until then, I feel too daunted by the magnitude of a post about our trip home, so I'm afraid it's not coming any time soon!

Ok, NOW for some pictures.
David got to try blueberries for the first time this week. I think it's safe to say they were his favorite so far!
He can also eat these teething cookies now, but to be honest everytime he gets a good piece off I freak out and take it out of his mouth. He seems ready for these, but I don't think I'm ready for him to be ready for them :)
Playing with Michael and Timo!




Just more happy baby pictures! This is a new toy, a Christmas present from Michael's parents. He loves it!
I missed the moment, but he picked up this little lamby, which he hasn't seen for a while, and he took one look at its face and burst out laughing! No idea why, but he thinks this face is pretty funny.
And finally, I just have to share how very long he's gotten. I tried to measure him, and it looks to me like he's grown at least 2 inches this month. We'll know for sure on Monday when we see the pediatrician, but I swear he is growing like never before!

That's it for now :)

Jan 20, 2009

David's Camera Smile

Well here it is, as promised! In the beginning of the video, it's a little less clear what he's doing. He was new to sitting at the time, and the whole throwing up of the hands to smile led to some stability concerns :) By the end, though, it should be clear! For what it's worth, the time that I edited out basically consisted of David staring at the camera.


Jan 19, 2009

Back in Jena!

Well, it's been forever, but we're back! We survived yet another marathon of travel with the little guy, though this time I will spare you the details. I will share one funny story, though. At around 7am local time, which was 1am for us, the three of us were on a train heading back to Jena from Frankfurt. German trains are usually very quiet, particularly compared to the US, but this train was quiet even by German standards. It was freezing cold outside, and nobody wanted to be awake. About 5 minutes into our trip, David (who had just woken up) turned to the guy sitting across the aisle from us and let out the longest, loudest sigh which went straight into some babbling. I'm telling you, the intonation was perfect. He might as well have said "Ooh, boy. What a morning I've had, I tell you."

Everyone on our end of the train burst out laughing. I mean about 8 people just cracked up! David's newest friend, a 20-something year old guy, was particularly amused. He said to David, "I'm sorry, what was that you said? I didn't quite get that." It was awesome.

Anyway, if there's anyone still checking this blog, I think I will actually be able to write fairly regularly now because...David is the best little sitter ever! Now that he can sit well, he is so happy playing with his toys. Yesterday, Michael and I had an incredibly productive day of cleaning while David babbled away playing with some cloth blocks and teething toys. He loves to play with us too, but he's so good at entertaining himself! (It's actually hard not to just watch him when he's playing alone. He cracks us up!)
(David with his cousin--technically we figured out she is his first-cousin once removed!--Sara Mei.)
Reaching for a new toy, in a (very rare) candid shot.

While we were gone, David also sprouted two teeth! He's not yet crawling, but he sure is trying, and I don't think it will be too long before he's pretty mobile. He IS jumping, which is pretty funny. If you hold his hands, he will jump and actually get both feet off the ground at the same time. I don't think I've ever seen a month old jump without a jumper before, but he's been doing it for a few weeks now. We're getting a jumperoo this week, and I can't wait to watch David play in that! My sister let us use a doorway jumper over the break, and David could not get enough of that.

I should really start my day here, but I have to share one more thing. David has a new camera face. It's hilarious. He has been aware of the camera for awhile, now, but these days he does the exact same thing everytime he sees one: he drops whatever he's holding, throws his hands up and gives a huge smile. I have no idea how he learned this, but I do have video evidence that I will be posting either today or tomorrow. In any case, I have included some photos of this camera smile :)

And at the Aquarium in a real, American stroller. He looked so big to me just sitting and watching everything!